Atascadero police worked on Monday night to find a man who ran from officers. They were unable to locate him, police said late Monday.

The incident began at 9:23 p.m. when an officer tried to conduct a traffic stop at Coromar Ave. and Curbaril Ave. for alleged vehicle code violations, according to Sgt. Jason Carr.

The driver stopped but then drove off. There was a short pursuit before the driver crashed into mailboxes on San Andreas Ave., ditched the car and took off running.

Atascadero police began searching on foot with one of the department's K9s and requested assistance from the crew of H70, the CHP helicopter, which was widely heard and seen shining its search spotlight on various areas of interest.

Sgt. Carr said his team set up a perimeter with four officers hoping to find and arrest the suspect.

"At some point, he broke the perimeter and we were unable to locate him," said Sgt. Carr. The search was called off around 11 p.m.

A witness told police the man may have been intoxicated, but other than that, there was no reason to believe anyone was in any danger during the search, Sgt. Carr said.